Inaugural class graduates from Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

There’s a first time for everything. Such was the case for Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, which graduated students from its inaugural class on Saturday.

The graduation at the Jefferson Center in Roanoke featured U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine as keynote speaker. Kaine was governor when the school was announced in 2007. The 40 students who graduated from the school this weekend entered in the fall 2010.

The new doctors will now disperse across the country for their residency training.

“It has been an incredible experience,” Matthew Joy, who served as class president, said during the ceremony. “It has also been a very unique experience, due in part to our being the first class, but even more so, I believe, due to the focus and value that Virginia Tech Carilion places on patient-centered learning and patient-centered medical care.”